In the sanitary food industry, it is common to have a valve assembly made of a suitable non-corrosive material, such as stainless steel, wherein the valve is readily disassembled for cleaning. Some of the valves made for the sanitary food industry include a valve stem operably and releasably attached to a valve handle so that the valve is manually operable by moving the valve handle longitudinally with respect to the valve body. In the above described type of sanitary valve, in order to releasably secure the valve stem to the valve handle, it is necessary to operably connect the valve stem to the valve handle so that longitudinal movement of the valve handle actuates the valve assembly. It is further desireable to be able to release the handle from the valve stem, when the valve is in an open position, so that the valve handle and valve stem can be removed from the valve body for cleaning of the valve parts.
It is known to provide the valve handle of the above described sanitary valves with a notch and adjoining larger aperture such that the valve stem is held to the valve handle when the stem is inserted within the notch, and the valve handle can be released from the valve stem, when the valve is in an open position, by sliding the valve stem transversely into the adjoining aperture. It has been found that often, when the above described valve is in an open position, the valve handle is inadvertently or mistakenly detached from the valve stem and can be lost and/or unavailable for valve operation.